Cross-posted from The Quinton Report.

Lansdale Patch

A Lansdale man is sitting in prison, waiting for extradition to Florida to answer a charge of felony video voyeurism of a child under the age of 16, for allegedly photographing an 8-year-old boy in a bathroom stall at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

Joseph Cionzynski, 59, of the 300 block of Perkiomen Avenue, was taken into custody Wednesday by Lansdale Police, a day after Orange County Sheriff’s issued an arrest warrant, according to The Reporter. He was arraigned before District Judge Harold Borek on Wednesday.

According to authorities, Cionzynski allegedly took cell phone photos of the boy from under a partition from an adjacent stall.

The boy could only identify the man by his shoes, police said. When the boy ran out to his mother and told her of the alleged perversion, they identified Cionzynski as the alleged voyeur by his shoes, police said.

The mother confronted Cionzynski, who was escorted out of the bathroom by Animal Kingdom security, police said.

Cionzynski was reportedly cooperative with the investigation:

While authorities did not find the photos immediately on Cionzynski’s phone, a further investigation did locate the alleged photos, police said. Initially, police allegedly found two photos of male genitalia on Cionzynski’s phone.

The Patch story made no mention of Cinonzynski’s political activism, but a commenter did point this out:

This is a guy who worked on the campaigns of the Friends of Lansdale political group headed by Jack Hansen. Apparently this group loves criminals since two others they supported have been in trouble with the law. Makes you wonder if any of these “Friends” get elected what else might come out about them that would embarrass Lansdale?

The Reporter has more details including:

There were over 800 photos on Cionzynski’s phone, according to the report, and after viewing them all, the detective did not find any of the boy sitting on the toilet but found two photos of adult genitalia sticking out from the edge of a pair of shorts. The detective did not confront or question Cionzynski about the two photos, according to the incident report.

Both stories indicate that Cionzynski told police he is a Boy Scout leader.

Neither The Reporter nor Lansdale Patch mentioned his connections to Friends of Lansdale or the Lansdale Democratic Committee. Patch had reported on political activities he participated in before.

A 2011 story by a Lansdale Patch writer discussing a controversy involving the Lansdale Democratic Committee and Friends of Lansdale (a PAC that supported candidates) reported on Cinonzynski as a member of the committee. For more background on the Friends of Lansdale and the Democratic committee, read a story from earlier this year published by The Reporter.

A local television report Sunday indicated Cinonzynski was involved in politics but didn’t mention the party or affiliation:

This man who appears to have been a member of a Montgomery County political organization and mentor to kids, FOX 29’s Omari Fleming reported from Lansdale on Sunday night after speaking with neighbors.

The television report also mentions other details:

Police say that’s when the 59-year-old man identified himself as scout leader and employee at the National Labor Relations Board in Center City, gave his phone to police and said it was all a misunderstanding.

[…]

Cionzynski was allowed to come back home to Pennsylvania because police say they didn’t find pictures of the 8-year-old boy on his phone until recently.

On Monday, we should get a better idea on when the 59-year-old man will be taken back to Florida for prosecution, Fleming reported.

Other than ten traffic violations since 2010, nothing else shows up for Cionzynski in a search of Pennsylvania court records online.

Would the local media have ignored his political affiliation if he was conservative?

Cross-posted from The Quinton Report.